Device and method for carrying a drywall knife

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method for carrying a drywall knife. An embodiment may include an elongated body member that is attached to a clip that may engage a belt. Further, the body member may also include a magnetic member disposed on an end opposite the belt clip suited to magnetically engage and securely hold in place a taping knife as commonly used in drywall construction applications. Such an apparatus is suited to hold the taping knife securely and easily at a worker&#39;s side when the worker needs to free up hi or her hands to accomplish different tasks not involving the taping knife. Keeping the taping knife magnetically secured to one&#39;s side makes for an easy removal for use by using one hand and grasping the taping knife handle, thereby eliminating any need to manipulate a handle through a utility belt loop or work pants loop.

BACKGROUND

Construction workers in the drywall industry use a taping knife (sometimes called a joint knife or more simply a “mud” knife) to apply and shape joint compound (“mud”) when constructing walls in residential and commercial building projects. Taping knives can be used to spread the mud over nail and screw indents in new drywall applications, and is also used when using paper or fiberglass drywall tape to cover seams. Other common uses include patching holes, smoothing wall-coverings, and creating specialty artistic wall finishes. Common sizes range from five to twelve inches wide, but the most common size used by residential and commercial construction workers is six inches.

Often, a construction worker will need to use the taping knife for a time with one of his hands grasping and using the taping knife. When finished with a task, the construction worker will often need to then have both hands free to climb a ladder, descend from a ladder, acquire more drywall mud or any number of other tasks in which the worker needs both hands and cannot conveniently keep hold of the taping knife. As such, the construction worker will often lay the taping knife down, place it in a holder on a ladder, or place it is a strap/loophole on the worker's pants or belt. Setting the knife down or on a ladder may prove to be inconvenient when the knife is immediately needed elsewhere by the worker. Furthermore, even if the worker places the knife (e.g., by its handle) through a loop or holder, it is often awkward to reacquire the handle of the taping knife with one hand since the handle is through the loop, but the blade is keeping it from falling through the loop. Thus, even if the handle of the knife is grasped by the worker in one hand, he must often manipulate the knife to extricate it from the loop by securing the blade for a moment as well. This proves to be awkward at times.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a taping knife device according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a person who has the taping knife device of FIG. 1 engaged according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a taping knife device according to a second embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following discussion is presented to enable a person skilled in the art to make and use the subject matter disclosed herein. The general principles described herein may be applied to embodiments and applications other than those detailed above without departing from the spirit and scope of the present detailed description. The present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed or suggested herein.

As discussed briefly above, drywall construction workers often use belt loops or pants loops to quickly hold a taping knife in close proximity when not in use. However, reengaging the taping knife with one hand can be difficult because the handle of the taping knife is “threaded” through the holding loop. An embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein is directed to an apparatus that may include an elongated body member that is attached to a clip that may engage a belt. Further, the body member may also include a magnetic member disposed on an end opposite the belt clip suited to magnetically engage and securely hold in place a taping knife as commonly used in drywall construction applications. Such an apparatus is suited to hold the taping knife securely and easily at a worker's side when the worker needs to free up his or her hands to accomplish different tasks not involving the taping knife. Keeping the taping knife magnetically secured to one's side makes for an easy removal for use by using one hand and grasping the taping knife handle, thereby eliminating any need to manipulate a handle through a utility belt loop or work pants loop. These and other features are discussed in the following paragraphs in conjunction with FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a taping knife apparatus 100 (also called a taping knife carrier) according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein. The apparatus 100 includes an elongated body member 120 having a first end and a second end. The apparatus 100 further includes a clip 140 attached to the body member 120 at the first end and operable to engage a belt (not shown in FIG. 1). Further yet, the apparatus 100 includes a magnetic engagement member 110 attached to the body member 120 at the second end and having a magnetized surface suited to securely engage a taping knife 150. Thus, when a taping knife 150 is in close proximity to the magnetic engagement member 110, a magnetic force 160 attracts the taping knife 150 to its surface and holds the taping knife 150 in place.

The magnetic engagement member 110 may be a neodymium magnet (also known as NdFeB, NIB, or Neo magnet). A neodymium magnet is a type of rare-earth magnet and is a permanent magnet made from an alloy of neodymium, iron, and boron. Such a magnet provides for the strongest known magnetic force on the order of BHmax˜512 kJ/m3 or 64 MG·Oe. Such a magnetic force 160 is suitable to overcome the gravitational force and other associated momentous forces (e.g., forces from a worker moving about) to keep the taping knife 150 securely held to the magnetic engagement member 110. The value of the magnetic force 160 may vary according a specification for the apparatus 100. That is, some embodiments may be designed with a smaller magnetic force suited for a smaller taping knife, such as a six-inch taping knife 150 as shown in FIG. 1. Other embodiments may be suited for holding larger taping knives, such as eleven- or twelve-inch knives.

The magnetic engagement member 110 may be rotatably attached to the body member 120 such that any secured taping knife 150 may be free to swing about a rotation point according to momentous and gravitation forces. Thus, the heaviest part of the secured taping knife will naturally gravitate to the bottom of the swing of rotation.

The taping knife apparatus 100 includes a biasing member 130 attached to the first end of the body member 120. The biasing member 130 is biased to provide a pinch point at the body member 110 approximately half-way between the first end and the second end of the body member. Further, the clip 140 includes an angled portion that angles away from the body member 110 to create an opening 145 suited to easily slide over a belt or other article of clothing. Thus, a drywall worker may slide the apparatus 100 onto a belt such that the opening 145 is aligned with a top edge of a belt and then maneuvered into place such that the biasing member 130 pinches the belt at the midway point between the body member 110 and the clip 140.

The taping knife carrier 100 may be made from a light-weight and rugged metal such as aluminum, steel, or alloys thereof. Further, different parts of the taping knife carrier 100 may be made from different materials. For example, just the clip 140 may be made from extruded plastic while the body member 110 may be made from the aforementioned metals. In still other embodiments, the body member 110 may be made from burlap, leather, canvas, woven rope, or woven linen

In other embodiment not shown, a taping knife carrier 100 may have a different means for securing the apparatus to a belt. One example includes having a body member with one or more slots suited to engage a belt such that the belt is fed through the one or more slots. Other embodiments may include a hook and latch system, a detachable belt clip, or any other suitable means for securing the device to a person's clothing or body in a convenient manner. These and other aspects are further illustrated with respect to FIG. 2 discussed below.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a person who has the taping knife device of FIG. 1 engaged at the waistline according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein. As can been seen here, a person 200 may have a belt 210 around his or her waist. The taping knife device 100 of FIG. 1 may be secured to the belt in a convenient location, such as near the person's right hand. In this manner, the person's hands are free, yet the taping knife 150 may be easily accessible at the person's right hand as the taping knife is magnetically secured to the taping knife device 100. As shown, in FIG. 2, the taping knife 150 is secured in an upright position (e.g., the blade of the taping knife is pointed up). However, the magnet from the taping knife device 150 does not require any specific taping knife alignment in order to secure the taping knife. As such, the taping knife 150 could just as easily be secured with the blade facing downward.

In essence, the taping knife device of FIG. 1 may be used for securing any object in such an easily accessible position. Such a universal application apparatus may be similar and include a rigid member (e.g., body member 120) having a first end and a second end, the rigid member suited to be hang from a torso of a human. Further, it may include a biasing member (e.g., biasing member 130 and clip 140) attached to the first end of the rigid member and operable to engage an anchor point on the human torso. Finally, it may include a magnetic member (e.g., magnet 110 disposed on the rigid member and suited to magnetically engage an object having thin metallic portion.

With such a universal device as just described, a person may easily secure any metallic object at one's side such that the person may work with both hands free, yet easily retrieve an often-used tool. For example, a drywall construction worker may secure a taping knife having a metallic knife blade at the magnet disposed on the taping knife device. Because the taping knife device was secured in this convenient location at the person's waistline, e.g., an anchor point such as the right side of a belt, the taping knife is suspended in an easily retrievable manner. Other tools, such as hammers or measuring tapes may also be secured by such a device.

Still further embodiments are contemplated for additional ease of use and functionality. One such embodiment is shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a taping knife device 300 according to a second embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein. In this embodiment, the magnetic member may be detachable from the body member 320 such that a coupling wire allows the magnetic member 310 to be moved away from rest of the taping knife device 300 at least a distance as long as the length of the coupling wire 312.

Similar to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the apparatus 300 includes an elongated body member 320 having a first end and a second end. The apparatus 300 further includes a clip 340 attached to the body member 320 at the first end and operable to engage a belt (not shown in FIG. 3). Further yet, the apparatus 300 includes a magnetic engagement member 310 attached to the body member 320 at the second end via a coupling wire 312. The magnetic engagement member 310 includes a magnetized surface suited to securely engage a taping knife (not shown in FIG. 3).

This taping knife apparatus 300 also includes a biasing member 330 attached to the first end of the body member 320. The biasing member 330 is biased to provide a pinch point at the body member 310 approximately half-way between the first end and the second end of the body member. Further, the clip 340 includes an angled portion that angles away from the body member 310 to create an opening 345 suited to easily slide over a belt or other article of clothing. Finally, this embodiment also includes winding mechanism 314 that is suited to wind the coupling wire 312 into a holding area (not shown as it is internal to the winding mechanism 314). Thus, one who is using the device 300 may unfurl a specific length of coupling wire as may be needed.

Such a detachable magnetic member 310 may be useful in a number of situations. In a first useful situation, a drywall worker may have a specific length of coupling wire unfurled such that the worker may freely use a magnetically attached taping knife for typical applications. If the worker happens to drop the taping knife, it will still be secured to the magnetic member 310 which remains attached to the taping knife apparatus 300 at the worker's belt. Thus, the worker may pull the wire back up or wind the wire back into the winding mechanism 314 in order to retrieve the dropped knife. This may be particularly useful in situations where a drywall worker may be positioned high on a ladder or scaffolding.

In this embodiment, the winding mechanism 312 may include release and rewind latches that may be actuated by pressing specific latches or the like. In this manner, the rewinding may be “automatic” is that an internal biased mechanism winds the coupling wire when an internal latch is disengaged. Such a “zip cord” mechanism is known and not illustrated or discussed further herein.

In other situations, the worker may choose to work with a taping knife free of any attached magnet 310 and wire 312. Then, if the worker drops the taping knife high on a ladder, the worker may unfurl a length of wire 312 with the magnet 310 at the end to the taping knife on the floor. By maneuvering the magnet 310 until it engages the dropped taping knife, the worker can then rewind the coupling wire 312, thereby retrieving the dropped taping knife that is now magnetically secured to the magnet 310.

While the subject matter discussed herein is susceptible to various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof are shown in the drawings and have been described above in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the claims to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the claims. 

1. A taping knife carrier, comprising: an elongated body member having a first end and a second end; a clip attached to the body member at the first end and operable to engage a belt; and a magnetic engagement member attached to the body member at the second end and having a magnetized surface suited to securely engage a taping knife.
 2. The taping knife carrier of claim 1 wherein the magnetic engagement member is suited to engage a six-inch taping knife.
 3. The taping knife carrier of claim 1, further comprising a biasing member attached to the first end of the body member, the biasing member biased to provide a pinch point at the body member between the first end and the second end.
 4. The taping knife carrier of claim 1 wherein the elongated body member comprises a metal from the group including aluminum, steel, and alloys thereof.
 5. The taping knife carrier of claim 1 wherein the magnet comprises a magnet having a magnetic force of at least on the order of BHmax˜512 kJ/m3 or 64 MG·Oe.
 6. The taping knife carrier of claim 1 wherein the clip comprises one of the group including: aluminum, extruded plastic, steel, and alloys thereof.
 7. The taping knife carrier of claim 1 wherein the body member comprises one or more slots suited to engage a belt such that the belt is fed through the one or more slots.
 8. The taping knife carrier of claim 1 wherein the body member comprises a material from the group including: burlap, leather, canvas, woven rope, and woven linen.
 9. The taping knife of claim 1 wherein the magnetic member is removably attached to the body member.
 10. The taping knife of claim 9, further comprising a coupling wire disposed between the magnetic member and the body member such that the magnetic member may be removed from the body member and remain attached to the coupling wire.
 11. The taping knife of claim 10, wherein the coupling wire is disposed in a winding mechanism biased to keep the coupling wire wound around a central winding member.
 12. An apparatus for carrying an object, comprising: a rigid member having a first end and a second end, the rigid member suited to be hang from a torso of a human; a biasing member attached to the first end of the rigid member and operable to engage an anchor point on the human torso; and a magnetic member disposed on the rigid member and suited to magnetically engage an object having thin metallic portion.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the object comprises a drywall knife.
 14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the anchor point comprises a belt.
 15. A method, comprising: securing a drywall knife having a metallic portion at a magnet disposed on a mounting device; securing the mounting device to an anchor point on a human; and suspending the drywall knife at the anchor point.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising disengaging the drywall knife from the magnet and reengaging the drywall knife with the magnet. 